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PalmPilot Fullsize Keyboard
Several people, including Lexie, wrote to us about one of the coolest Palm
accessory that's rolled around in a while. It's a full size keyboard, looks like it folds out - and will be coming out sometime later on this year. Looks like yet another Christmas idea.
Here's the dirt that they don't really publicize though. Some of it very cool some of it is kind of a gripe.. anyway, here it is:
- The thing doesnt support the Palm V or Vx without a serial port adaptor. It should work fine with an adaptor though.
- The keyboard is powered by 2 AA batteries located in the cradle assembly. I would guess that some keyboards can really suck power. I've powered many devices with the 5V on my kbd port, so i know it puts out
:) No mention of an A/C adaptor, although it wouldnt be all that hard to create that feature yourself... - You can attach a modem as well as a keyboard with this cradle; which is very good for e-mailing and other fun things. Again, if you want to use a Palm V modem with it, you'll need yet another adaptor. On the other hand, if you use a Palm V in the cradle, you could confortably attach a non Palm-V modem on the cradle.
Anyway, it's not a bad accessory. I like devices like this that take the proprietary hardware out of the Palm. I seem to remember a PCMCIA (sic.) slot attachment somewhere that allowed you to use standard wireless network cards or standard modems; etc. Very cool.~GoRK
#1 - How do you figure my request for a Linux environment on a Palm offtopic? The article was about a keyboard for a palm. Why the heck would someone need a keyboard for a Palm if they wanted to only keep appointments? My message was strictly ON topic. On the other hand, you were whining about moderators. Here's a nickel kid, now go to the meta-moderator page and start being part of the solution and stop being part of the precipitate.
#2 - I've checked out the Palm for Linux page, and the install looked more difficult than I would like.
3COM should fix their machine to allow others to load the operating system of their choice. I have the same general beef about Psion's new machine. You've got to jump through hoops to get Linux to load up, because the machine expects to run only the factory installed OS.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
What would be the point of running Linux on a Palm? Because I won't buy a Palm unless it does. With the keyboard, Linux would actually be usable. Without the keyboard, I'll just stick with my Newton.
I want to use a real programming language to write my own apps to run on a Palm. I don't want to pay anyone for the tools. I don't want to use an IDE environment. I want to use vi and a command line compiler, and that's all.
I don't see why Linux wouldn't be the perfect OS for a palm device.
Let me turn the question around: why would you want a keyboard on a Palm?
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
With this keyboard, the Palm could be a real machine. An implementation of Linux and a compiler would round it out as the world's lightest workstation. I would buy a Palm if it was easy to put Linux on it.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
For how cheap can they be had?
Geeky modern art T-shirts
Probably better than my GoType, which was just ripped off. But c'mon, a hundred dollars for a keyboard? That sounds just plain crazy.
I was able to resist the urge to buy a Palm on the basis that I'd soon get bored of writing with the stylus. Now that excuse has gone I'm going to *have* to buy one. What a sad existence I lead when I can't overcome the urge to buy gadgets for the sake of it.
Chris Wareham
At the very least, it would need some kind of weird-palm-connector-thingy to PS/2 adapter. That's assuming that the keyboard uses the same protocol as a normal keyboard.
:-)
I've never liked the small keyboards anyway because they cramp my fingers. And besides, why do you need that much desk space anyway? Isn't the whole point of a desk to put a computer on?
Friends don't let friends misuse the subjunctive.
...and very well too!
Pop over to www.gotype.com. They've even got a Hackmaster compatible version of the driver.
The best bit about the GoType is it doesn't need any batteries and hardly impacts those in the Pilot.
True, although you don't _need_ a keyboard to use a Palm. 3Com and US Robotics have sold millions of units without the need for a keyboard. What's more, unlike a laptop, you can use the unit entirely without the keyboard as a means of entry.
For more information, click here.
Yes, I know that you can attach a twiddler (?), but this gives you a big, bulky thing that isn't really one-handed. Use buttons or pressure switches so that while it's in your palm, your fingers land on them. *then* I'll rush out and buy one. But everything that I'd want to do with a hand-held means I need another hand to work with (drive, flipthough the booksi'm indexing, whatver)